A bussed electrical distribution center (hereinafter referred to simply as a "BEDC") is a stand-alone central junction block assembly which has gained increasing applications in the automotive arts as motor vehicles become ever more electronically sophisticated. BEDC's package, for example, various fuses, relays and electronic devices in a single central location. BEDCs not only save cost by consolidating electrical interconnections, but also advantageously reduce the number of cut and spliced leads, thereby increasing reliability.
A BEDC construction which is considered state of the art is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,135, to Brussalis et al., dated Feb. 3, 1998, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
In the BEDC described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,135, a two-piece main insulation assembly is provided. Stamped male blade or tuning fork terminals are press-fit between the main insulation assembly, wherein the terminals are provided with a wire slot. The upper half of the main insulation assembly has a top surface provided with a plurality of terminal stations and guide stations that are raised and separated from each other so as to provide a network of channels that provide wire passages. The terminal stations have IDC (insulation displacement) type terminal slots that extend through the upper half of the main insulation assembly and allow a press-fit affixment of the terminals, wherein the wiring slots thereof intersect the wiring passages. The lower half of the main insulation assembly is configured similarly. When a segment of bus wire (preferably solid copper) is routed selectively along the wiring channels, the bus wire segment is pressed through the wire slot of a selected number of the terminals to thereby electrically connect those terminals therewith.
A printed circuit board (hereinafter simply referred to as a "PCB"), is a board-like, electrically interfaced package of electronic components which has become ubiquitous in the electrical arts. PCBs typically are in the form of a dielectric substrate (such as for example an organic resin reinforced by fibers) and a predetermined pattern of perforations for making connections with wiring and electrical devices, wherein a conductive path, usually cladded copper, is patterned so as to provide a predetermined electrical routing between the perforations so that the wiring and electrical devices are functionally interconnected.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a prior art interconnection system for electrically interfacing a BEDC with a PCB is depicted for an automotive environment of operation. In this automotive environment, a BEDC 10 is connected by a wiring harness 12 to a PCB 14. At each connection of the wiring harness 12, a connector 16, 18 is required. Further, the connectors 16, 18 must be enlarged, or additional connectors must be provided, in order to interface with separate wiring 20, 22 that must communicate with various electrical components of the motor vehicle.
The prior art interconnection system of FIG. 1 has several disadvantages, among these are: high cost of interface via a wiring harness; lower reliability due to use of numerous connectors; large volume of space allocated for the separate BEDC and PCB; and intensive assembly labor; limited flexibility in configuring the interconnection system; and susceptibility to weakened soldered connections. Accordingly, what remains needed in the art is a connection system for providing an integrated BEDC and PCB that is flexible, resistant t o electrical disconnection, and easy to make at low cost.